Friday, May 23, 2014

THIS SUNDAY: VISIT OF ARCHBISHOP CARLSON
PRIESTLY RETREAT – FIRST HOLY COMMUNION
SACRED ORDINATIONS IN AUGUST

Dear faithful and friends of St. Francis de Sales Oratory,

VISIT OF ARCHBISHOP CARLSON

His Grace, the Most Reverend Robert J. Carlson
Archbishop of St. Louis

This coming Sunday we will have the honor of the visit of His Grace, Archbishop Robert Carlson. The Archbishop visits with us this year twice: In May and again on the 19th of October, when St. Francis de Sales Oratory will be part of the citywide celebrations of the 800th birth anniversary of King St. Louis IX of France and also the 250th year of the founding of the city of Saint Louis.
Please join us this Sunday at 10:00AM, when His Grace will pronounce the sermon during the Solemn High Mass. Archbishop Carlson will be with us afterwards in the hall for a light reception and to greet the faithful.

PRIESTLY RETREAT

Msgr. Gilles Wach, Prior General
Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest

From May 5 to May 9 the Institute priests serving in the American Province met at St. Francis de Sales Oratory in St. Louis for their annual retreat. Monsignor Gilles Wach, Prior General of the Institute, came to St. Louis to preach to the assembled priests during this time of spiritual recollection and fraternal gathering. These retreats are indispensable for renewing the interior lives of the priests, as well as for the charitable unity among all members of the Institute.

For the community of faithful in St. Louis, this is the fourth time St. Francis de Sales Oratory had the honor to receive the canons for this spiritual event. The Institute is very grateful for the generous hospitality of numerous members of our community who helped us to prepare the rooms at the convent and rectory in which the priests were accommodated.

Abbé Alex Barga and Abbé John Ciambrano

Thursday evening of the retreat week saw the memorable Solemn High Mass celebrated by Msgr. Wach. On this solemn occasion, Abbé Alex Barga, oblate in the Institute since 2007, and sacristan at St. Francis de Sales, received the Cross of St. Francis de Sales from the hands of our Prior General. Mr. John Ciambrano, until that day a candidate for the oblatehood in Wausau, Wisconsin, received the cassock. Families and friends of our oblates joined our priests and the faithful afterwards in the hall to celebrate with light refreshments at a reception.

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION

First Holy Communion 2014

On May 11, twenty of our children received the Holy Eucharist for the first time. All children were prepared well in the months leading to this solemn event, through catechism studies, first confessions and a short exam with one of the canons at the Oratory.

After High Mass on May 11, all children were enrolled in the brown scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and received a small gift from the hands of the rector.

Congratulations to all these young faithful and their families!

SACRED ORDINATIONS

St. Philip Neri Seminary

Tuesday, August 5, 2014, Feast of Our Lady of the Snows, will be a memorable day indeed for St. Francis de Sales Oratory and for the Institute. With the gracious permission of His Grace, the Most Reverend Robert J. Carlson, Archbishop of St. Louis, the Sacrament of Holy Orders will be conferred by His Eminence, Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, at St. Francis de Sales Oratory, on four American Deacons of the Institute: Abbé Francis Altière (Pennsylvania), Abbé Benjamin Coggeshall (Illinois), Abbé Joel Estrada (California), and Abbé Andrew Todd (Louisiana). Our profound gratitude to Divine Providence and heartfelt congratulations go to these four young men.

The joy for the Oratory will be heightened by the fact that this will be a homecoming of sorts, as each of these Ordinands had served in the St. Louis apostolate at least once during their Seminary formation, and each is well-known to the faithful of the Oratory.

Chanting of the Litany of the Saints 2013

We look forward to this magnificent milestone in the life of the Church, in the life of the Oratory, and particularly in the lives of four soon-to-be priests of Holy Mother Church. The solemn Pontifical Mass that day will be offered in honor of Mary Immaculate, principal patroness of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. Let us ask for her intercession for these four Deacons. Please mark your calendars, and be sure to invite your families and friends to an unforgettable event on August 5th.

Notes

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